There is no free lunch
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Ok, not IT related, but still...
All of IT was just invited to a last-minute free lunch to thank folks for finishing some project. The C** guy thanks everyone for their long hours, cooperation and hard work. Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Really?!
God, I love working at this place - it truly gives meaning to the DAILY wtf :)
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@snoofle said:
so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room
Here's two workarounds off the top of my head: 1) consume cookies inside the room 2) she doesn't want to [b]see[/b] anyone taking etc, hint hint.
[/humor]
You have my condolences.
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@piskvorr said:
1) consume cookies inside the room
This. Pull up a chair right in front of her and mow down as many cookies as you can stuff down your gullet without puking.
The other option is out the window IMO... I hate crumbs in my pockets.
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Actually, the cookies were about 7" across and 1/2" thick - very velvetty chocolate with assorted nuts and chocolate chips. You couldn't really eat more than one after the sandwiches and salads.
It was just that she said it at all... Then again, I didn't do any of the work on the project but got the free lunch anyway.
And oh BTW, the project manager told us he doesn't care if we leave early when it's really hot out (as it is today in NYC). NIce, especially since I bill hourly and am supposed to bill a minimum of 8 hours per day.
This team is a walking WTF, but it does have certain advantages.
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@snoofle said:
Is C** anything like C++ and C#? I never even heard of it! ;-)The C** guy thanks everyone for their long hours, cooperation and hard work.
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Like, really not take any of them out of the room at all? Not even internally?Really?!
I'd be tempted to interpret that as an instruction to take a crap on the conference table.
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@snoofle said:
And oh BTW, the project manager told us he doesn't care if we leave early when it's really hot out (as it is today in NYC).
How is it possible to both live in NYC and be cheap?
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@snoofle said:
And oh BTW, the project manager told us he doesn't care if we leave early when it's really hot out (as it is today in NYC). NIce, especially since I bill hourly and am supposed to bill a minimum of 8 hours per day.
Why would you want to leave early in this heat when the company is (hopefully) providing free air conditioning? I'd much rather sit at my desk and enjoy it while they (again, hopefully) foot the bill than go home and pay for it myself.
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Um, unless they charge more for electricity in NYC that snoof makes in an hour (which he pointed out he gets paid 8 hours anyway (bastard)), he would be saving just a few bucks by not going home, and this is assuming that he doesn't have the AC running all day anyway so his house isn't 95 when he gets home.
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@DaveK said:
Is C** anything like C++ and C#? I never even heard of it! ;-)
Pfft, if you look at your keyboard, you can tell right away it's an honest typo. He meant to say C((
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@RHuckster said:
@DaveK said:
Is C** anything like C++ and C#? I never even heard of it! ;-)
Pfft, if you look at your keyboard, you can tell right away it's an honest typo. He meant to say C((
Nah, it was supposed to be /\bC[A-Z]O\b/. Easy typo to make.
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@DaveK said:
@snoofle said:
Is C** anything like C++ and C#? I never even heard of it! ;-)The C** guy thanks everyone for their long hours, cooperation and hard work.
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Like, really not take any of them out of the room at all? Not even internally?Really?!
I'd be tempted to interpret that as an instruction to take a crap on the conference table.
"I don't want to see anybody taking cookies out of this room" - exact quote
"C**" means c-level executive
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re: free a/c
While the a/c is usually off (at home) during the day when we're all out, the kids are home because the schools are not air conditioned, so they sent them all home early. Given that, the a/c is on at home anyway, which works out nicely since it'll be comfy in the house when I finally get home.
Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home), so the a/c units at work were blasting continuously until the units overheated and shut down. So it's getting quote warm in here and I'm ready to be on my way.
Ah, the joys of office life!
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@blakeyrat said:
@snoofle said:
And oh BTW, the project manager told us he doesn't care if we leave early when it's really hot out (as it is today in NYC).
How is it possible to both live in NYC and be cheap?I'd guess living in the city would cause you to become cheap, even if you weren't before. Everything costs so much, you pinch every penny in a futile attempt to make ends meet.
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I don't understand this one bit. If the cookies were bought for the crew, what does she care WHERE you eat them? And, can't we depend on people being courteous anymore, or does she really expect someone might take all the cookies and run them home? Furthermore, what kind of authority does she have even if you did take all the cookies? I mean, other than blabbing about it.
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@snoofle said:
Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home),
Honestly, I just don't understand that. Why would you need aircon if your windows open? Do you not have breezes where you come from? Or are you all so dehydrated from the air-con that you can't keep comfortable by sweating gently?
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@intertravel said:
@snoofle said:
Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home),
Honestly, I just don't understand that. Why would you need aircon if your windows open? Do you not have breezes where you come from? Or are you all so dehydrated from the air-con that you can't keep comfortable by sweating gently?
That's funny. No, when it's 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity, there's no such thing as "sweating gently." IIRC, you're in the UK, and my understanding is that it generally doesn't really warm up there.
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@boomzilla said:
@intertravel said:
I knew someone would say that, so I really should have said this before, but no, I've lived all over the world, including in places considerably hotter and more humid than NY, and I just don't get the air-con thing. I'd much rather sit in a room with all the windows open and a nice breeze wafting through than be stuck in a hermetically sealed glass box. I suppose appropriate dress is also important - if you want me to wear a business suit, then I'll take the air-con :)@snoofle said:
Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home),
Honestly, I just don't understand that. Why would you need aircon if your windows open? Do you not have breezes where you come from? Or are you all so dehydrated from the air-con that you can't keep comfortable by sweating gently?
That's funny. No, when it's 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity, there's no such thing as "sweating gently." IIRC, you're in the UK, and my understanding is that it generally doesn't really warm up there.
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@intertravel said:
@boomzilla said:
@intertravel said:
I knew someone would say that, so I really should have said this before, but no, I've lived all over the world, including in places considerably hotter and more humid than NY, and I just don't get the air-con thing. I'd much rather sit in a room with all the windows open and a nice breeze wafting through than be stuck in a hermetically sealed glass box. I suppose appropriate dress is also important - if you want me to wear a business suit, then I'll take the air-con :)@snoofle said:
That's funny. No, when it's 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity, there's no such thing as "sweating gently." IIRC, you're in the UK, and my understanding is that it generally doesn't really warm up there.Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home),
Honestly, I just don't understand that. Why would you need aircon if your windows open? Do you not have breezes where you come from? Or are you all so dehydrated from the air-con that you can't keep comfortable by sweating gently?What places? Look it doesn't help that I'm fat but I have lived in a place that is very hot and very humid and let me tell you that even if I don't like aircon I couldn't live without it on the summer and yes I have also used a breeze sometimes and it is ok sometimes (at nights perhaps) but at noon, dude, I wish I could be in the north pole
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@intertravel said:
I knew someone would say that, so I really should have said this before, but no, I've lived all over the world, including in places considerably hotter and more humid than NY, and I just don't get the air-con thing. I'd much rather sit in a room with all the windows open and a nice breeze wafting through than be stuck in a hermetically sealed glass box. I suppose appropriate dress is also important - if you want me to wear a business suit, then I'll take the air-con :)
Fair enough. I have difficulty with humidity because sweating doesn't work very well (and my body is very much tuned to cool via sweat). In a dry climate, I can comfortably deal with much warmer temperatures, especially with a fan or a natural breeze. In places with a reasonable supply of electricity, heat and humidity, the hermetically sealed box is a much better value than not for me.
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You really ought to send Ms. Secretary a link to the Wikipedia entry for "false economy".
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@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
I reckon this was a ploy so that she could snaffle any of the left over cookies for herself.
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@RTapeLoadingError said:
I reckon this was a ploy so that she could snaffle any of the left over cookies for herself.
That is my thought as well.
Is she the one who has to clean the room? If so then eact your cookies very, very messily (think Cookie Monster).
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@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Any real IT department would take that as a challenge to smuggle every single scrap of food out.
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@RTapeLoadingError said:
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
I reckon this was a ploy so that she could snaffle any of the left over cookies for herself.
We had a secretary like that. Any time they brought in bulk refreshments on the company's dime, she'd sweep back into the room afterwards and grab all the leftover and half-full 2-liter bottles of pop and take them home to her kids.
(Later we started going on "schnorring runs". Post-meeting leftovers could be bread rolls and packets of ranch dressing, or in one case I got two food-service size clamshells of steamed rice that nobody had gone near, one white and one brown.)
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@da Doctah said:
We had a secretary like that. Any time they brought in bulk refreshments on the company's dime, she'd sweep back into the room afterwards and grab all the leftover and half-full 2-liter bottles of pop and take them home to her kids.
Back at school we had a janitor like that. She was really damned stealthy, too. At one point I was giving a presentation that involved a short (like, two minutes) guided tour of the floor below. Standard university procedure - lead off with the food, and once you've achieved critical mass of people in the room, shut the door to keep the people who are just there for the free food in (only the most brazen scavengers will, at that point, open the door to leave - the rest will at least pretend to pay attention to whatever you've trapped them for), give the presentation, give the tour, come back to polish off the food and some informal chat time for the handful of people who are ACTUALLY interested in the subject matter.Anyway, when my guys and I took the group downstairs for the tour, within TWO MINUTES the janitor had cleaned out about $60 worth of leftover pizza. The frakking powerpoint was still up on the damned projector, with a sarcastic comment about going for a short walk.
The presenters and I had ordered WAY more pizza than necessary for our presentation group size - since the pizza was expensed, we figured we could eat free for about a week if we shoved it all in the office fridge.
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@Weng said:
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Any real IT department would take that as a challenge to [b]eat[/b] every single scrap of food [b]there and then[/b].
FTFY.
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@Scarlet Manuka said:
@Weng said:
FTFM.@snoofle said:
FTFY.Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Any realIT departmentwouldtake that as a challenge toeat every single scrap of food there and then.
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@Weng said:
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Any real IT department would take that as a challenge to smuggle every single scrap of food out.Any BOFH would take it as a challenge to send the secretary to hospital, take the food out, and then bunk off to the pub.
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@DaveK said:
Like, really not take any of them out of the room at all? Not even internally?
How can she see them inside you? Do you have a glass belly?I'd be tempted to interpret that as an instruction to take a crap on the conference table.
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@snoofle said:
Ah, so she wants you to lock her in a cupboard or perhaps blindfold her?@DaveK said:
@snoofle said:
Is C** anything like C++ and C#? I never even heard of it! ;-)The C** guy thanks everyone for their long hours, cooperation and hard work.
@snoofle said:
Then the secretary who ordered the food comes in and announces that the food was expensive, so she doesn't want to see anyone taking any of the (large and tasty) cookies out of the room.
Like, really not take any of them out of the room at all? Not even internally?Really?!
I'd be tempted to interpret that as an instruction to take a crap on the conference table.
"I don't want to see anybody taking cookies out of this room" - exact quote
@snoofle said:
"C**" means c-level executive
I'll use a bigger smiley next time!
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@Anonymouse said:
Don't be silly! She sees them go into you, she doesn't see them come out, assuming she's anywhere beyond Piaget's sensorimotor stage of development and has achieved the concept of object permanence, she can infer that they have continued to exist inside you rather than ceased existing even though she can't see them any more. If you then leave the room, she sees you leaving the room with a cookie inside you.@DaveK said:
Like, really not take any of them out of the room at all? Not even internally?
How can she see them inside you? Do you have a glass belly?I'd be tempted to interpret that as an instruction to take a crap on the conference table.
So I was assuming she wanted all cookies to be ... "returned", before leaving the room...
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@da Doctah said:
Wow, you're the first person I've heard use that word since Groucho Marx![ ... ] schnorring [ ... ]
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@serguey123 said:
It occurs to me that what I really meant was 'I don't like air-con so you're all wrong!', but maybe it's a bit more subtle than that. More that it seems to me that USians are absolutely _obsessed_ with a/c. Sure, some buildings require it, because there's no air circulation - e.g. malls, theatres - but the idea of an office with windows which open needing a/c seems really odd to me.@intertravel said:
@boomzilla said:
@intertravel said:
I knew someone would say that, so I really should have said this before, but no, I've lived all over the world, including in places considerably hotter and more humid than NY, and I just don't get the air-con thing. I'd much rather sit in a room with all the windows open and a nice breeze wafting through than be stuck in a hermetically sealed glass box. I suppose appropriate dress is also important - if you want me to wear a business suit, then I'll take the air-con :)@snoofle said:
That's funny. No, when it's 90+ degrees and 80%+ humidity, there's no such thing as "sweating gently." IIRC, you're in the UK, and my understanding is that it generally doesn't really warm up there.Interestingly, some idiot opened several doors and windows (nobody knows why since they then went home),
Honestly, I just don't understand that. Why would you need aircon if your windows open? Do you not have breezes where you come from? Or are you all so dehydrated from the air-con that you can't keep comfortable by sweating gently?What places? Look it doesn't help that I'm fat but I have lived in a place that is very hot and very humid and let me tell you that even if I don't like aircon I couldn't live without it on the summer and yes I have also used a breeze sometimes and it is ok sometimes (at nights perhaps) but at noon, dude, I wish I could be in the north pole
Oh, and to answer your question, I was mainly thinking about time spent in Trinidad (& Tobago), some time in the Middle East/North Africa, as well. Hmmn, maybe that's it - the ME tends to be very dry heat, and in T&T you want to leave the windows open so you can hear the parrots and whatnot :)
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@intertravel said:
It occurs to me that what I really meant was 'I don't like air-con so you're all wrong!', but maybe it's a bit more subtle than that. More that it seems to me that USians are absolutely _obsessed_ with a/c. Sure, some buildings require it, because there's no air circulation - e.g. malls, theatres - but the idea of an office with windows which open needing a/c seems really odd to me.
In the US it's considered impolite to sweat in a work environment.
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@intertravel said:
It occurs to me that what I really meant was 'I don't like air-con so you're all wrong!', but maybe it's a bit more subtle than that. More that it seems to me that USians are absolutely obsessed with a/c. Sure, some buildings require it, because there's no air circulation - e.g. malls, theatres - but the idea of an office with windows which open needing a/c seems really odd to me.
WTF is a USian? Anyways, my office (on the 6th floor) doesn't have windows that open. I don't believe even the 1st floor has windows, due at least in part to security.@intertravel said:
Oh, and to answer your question, I was mainly thinking about time spent in Trinidad (& Tobago), some time in the Middle East/North Africa, as well. Hmmn, maybe that's it - the ME tends to be very dry heat, and in T&T you want to leave the windows open so you can hear the parrots and whatnot :)
Well, at T&T, you're right on / surrounded by the ocean, so I can see how you'd get nice, consistent breezes. Where I live, I get a lot of wind due to local geography. However, there's a practical limit to the amount of wind you can reasonably have in an office environment. But even here, it's not always blowing. The A/C, OTOH, works whenever I flip the switch.
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@intertravel said:
More that it seems to me that USians are absolutely obsessed with a/c.
It seems to be that Euro-weenies are absolutely obsessed to cram the extremely large and diverse United States, a conglomeration of 50 independent States with widely-varying climates, cultures, and values into an extremely small bucket of stereotypes.
I don't even know anybody who owns an air conditioner. Which means either:
1) I'm not actually a "USian" (whatever the fuck that is)
2) Or you're full of shit and not all "USians" are _obsessed_ with a/c.Although I do have a/c in my car, but that was a standard option, so it's not like I got the choice.
Here's a thought, Euro-weenie, maybe those countries you mention aren't _obsessed_ with a/c because they can't afford to be? Gee whiz, Mr. Wizard, maybe if they could afford it, they'd have just as many a/c units as... whatever American stereotype you're carefully constructing requires. Maybe... just maybe... it has nothing to do with some "USian" character flaw, maybe it has something to do with economic factors? Did you even spend a fraction of a second thinking about that before painting with your broad brush?
BTW, this forum supports HTML tags. You can actually underline the damned text, if you want it underlined so bad. (But fair warning: people will complain they can't follow the link.)
BTW BTW, what the fuck kind of tiny-ass office buildings do you have where you can open windows on all the floors? Similarly, what the fuck kind of weird-ass office work do you do that doesn't involve loose papers? Is your desk just like 90% paperweights and 10% work surface?
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@blakeyrat said:
It seems to be that Euro-weenies are absolutely obsessed to cram the extremely large and diverse United States, a conglomeration of 50 independent States with widely-varying climates, cultures, and values into an extremely small bucket of stereotypes.
It's true that there are a lot of various climates, but I suspect that more people than not (in the US) live in places where A/C is common.@frits said:
In the US it's considered impolite to sweat in a work environment.
Indeed. In those places mentioned above, this would be worse than the usual things that make us tell people to flee their jobs (e.g., no SCM, test environment). Likewise, you could just wear an extra sweater instead of having a heater, but why put up with that? What's the point of living in a wealthy country if you can't turn on the A/C?
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@blakeyrat said:
It seems to be that Euro-weenies are absolutely _obsessed_ to cram the extremely large and diverse United States, a conglomeration of 50 independent States with widely-varying climates, cultures, and values into an extremely small bucket of stereotypes.
Like Y'all do with "us" Europeans. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
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@boomzilla said:
WTF is a USian?
A politer term for a septic.
OTOH, I don't think intertravel has worked here in Spain. Looking out of my window right now, I can see at least two dozen air conditioning units. And yes, it is expensive. My company is aiming to minimise aircon use this year because last year it would have been cheaper to have an intern dedicated to cooling the office with a large manual fan.
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@blakeyrat said:
I don't even know anybody who owns an air conditioner. Which means either:
1) I'm not actually a "USian" (whatever the fuck that is)
2) Or you're full of shit and not all "USians" are _obsessed_ with a/c.IIRC you are pretty far up in the north west of the states and possibly near the coast which also mitigates temperatures, much of the country is notin these conditions and so does make use of AC. So while yes parts of the US are not likely to have AC (my hometown being one of them), but it is likely in much of the country.
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@pjt33 said:
My company is aiming to minimise aircon use this year because last year it would have been cheaper to have an intern dedicated to cooling the office with a large manual fan.
I'm currently working in a "green" building, and goddammit, it gets hot as balls in the office... They cycle the A/C on and off, which is fine, but their threshold for switching it back on is about 5-7 degrees warmer what I would say is "comfortable". It wouldn't be bad if it was *always* hot, but when it dips down to 69, then back up to a hazy 77 or 80 within 10 minutes, it's just too damn distracting, IMO. And is it really saving that much energy to cycle between off for 15 minutes and blasting cold for 30? Wouldn't it make more sense to just leave it on at a few degrees warmer?
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@dhromed said:
@blakeyrat said:
It seems to be that Euro-weenies are absolutely obsessed to cram the extremely large and diverse United States, a conglomeration of 50 independent States with widely-varying climates, cultures, and values into an extremely small bucket of stereotypes.
Like Y'all do with "us" Europeans. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
No; I bucket all Europeans who like to pointlessly and baselessly and with that specific brand of completely unearned smugness insult the US, either implicitly or explicitly, at all opportunities as "euro-weenies." Europeans who don't do that... well. They don't exist. But if they did exist, I probably wouldn't call them "euro-weenies." Theoretically.
But seriously. I don't even like the rest of the US. New York. California. Florida. Texas. Rust belt. All cesspools. Fuck them. If you put me in the same group as a New Yorker, of course I'm going to be fucking irritated.
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@boomzilla said:
It's true that there are a lot of various climates, but I suspect that more people than not (in the US) live in places where A/C is common.
Here in New Jersey, I don't anybody who [i]doesn't[/i] have air conditioning. Also, I've lived in much hotter, suposedly more humid places such as Okinawa, Mississippi, and Coastal North Carolina, and the North Eastern US during summertime is just as uncomfortable as any of those.
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@frits said:
Here in New Jersey, I don't anybody who doesn't have air conditioning. Also, I've lived in much hotter, suposedly more humid places such as Okinawa, Mississippi, and Coastal North Carolina, and the North Eastern US during summertime is just as uncomfortable as any of those.
Yep. I think you probably have to get up into New England, the Upper Plains, or north of about San Francisco in the West (or just high enough, altitude wise) to be in places that are comfortable without A/C. Some places right on the coast of Southern California keep cool enough, too, but you don't have to go too far inland before you'll wish you had A/C. The main difference between, say NJ and Florida summer heat is the duration during which it gets really hot.
Another difference between (most of) America and Europe is latitude. It's easy to forget that Chicago and Rome are at about the same latitude.
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I'm in the northeast and I do have A/C, but it's only used between mid-May/June and mid-September at the latest, and it's often only on during the hottest times of the day (noon-4pm). The heat can get to the point where people with respiratory problems (heat also contributes to pollen, and other natural and manmade environmental pollutants) need A/C to avoid an asthma attack.
@boomzilla said:
It's easy to forget that Chicago and Rome are at about the same latitude.
While latitude contributes to climate for obvious reasons, it still doesn't take in effect other factors such as humidity, elevation, and the gulf stream. London is at about the same latitude as Winnipeg, yet Winnipeg gets a ton more snow. Even Seattle is more northern than Boston and gets a fraction of the amount of snow Boston gets. Yet at the same time Boston tends to get far more brutal heat during the summer time than Seattle. It's all about ocean currents, the coreolis effect (The gulf stream is moving clockwise for a reason), and how the atmosphere moving west-to-east reacts to going over oceans versus going over land and even the great lakes and mountains.
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@RHuckster said:
@boomzilla said:
Yeah, there are lots of other factors, of course. But the Gulf Stream probably isn't one.It's easy to forget that Chicago and Rome are at about the same latitude.
While latitude contributes to climate for obvious reasons, it still doesn't take in effect other factors such as humidity, elevation, and the gulf stream. London is at about the same latitude as Winnipeg, yet Winnipeg gets a ton more snow. Even Seattle is more northern than Boston and gets a fraction of the amount of snow Boston gets. Yet at the same time Boston tends to get far more brutal heat during the summer time than Seattle. It's all about ocean currents, the coreolis effect (The gulf stream is moving clockwise for a reason), and how the atmosphere moving west-to-east reacts to going over oceans versus going over land and even the great lakes and mountains.
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@frits said:
Here in New Jersey, I don't anybody who doesn't have air conditioning. Also, I've lived in much hotter, suposedly more humid places such as Okinawa, Mississippi, and Coastal North Carolina, and the North Eastern US during summertime is just as uncomfortable as any of those.
There are people here in Phoenix who don't have air conditioning. You see them hanging out in front of Home Depot looking for day labor jobs.
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@boomzilla said:
@frits said:
Here in New Jersey, I don't anybody who doesn't have air conditioning. Also, I've lived in much hotter, suposedly more humid places such as Okinawa, Mississippi, and Coastal North Carolina, and the North Eastern US during summertime is just as uncomfortable as any of those.
Yep. I think you probably have to get up into New England, the Upper Plains, or north of about San Francisco in the West (or just high enough, altitude wise) to be in places that are comfortable without A/C. Some places right on the coast of Southern California keep cool enough, too, but you don't have to go too far inland before you'll wish you had A/C.
You don't have to get far inland north of San Francisco to wish you had air conditioning. Sacramento has brutal summers, and even areas like Walnut Creek get pretty warm. Same goes for New England; the worst summer I ever experienced (heat-wise) was in New Hampshire in 2006.
It's all in the tradeoffs, ultimately. I'm up in Western NY, and summertime is usually nice enough that you could scrape by with no air conditioning, but it makes a difference. Winters aren't the worst in terms of, say, the absolute coldest day or the most snowfall, but it's cold and nasty for six months straight.
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@boomzilla said:
Even Seattle is more northern than Boston and gets a fraction of the amount of snow Boston gets
A few years ago there was a story about the Mars rovers. It was during the winter and mentioned that it was currently warmer on Mars than it was in Boston.
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@intertravel said:
It occurs to me that what I really meant was 'I don't like air-con so you're all wrong!', but maybe it's a bit more subtle than that. More that it seems to me that USians are absolutely _obsessed_ with a/c. Sure, some buildings require it, because there's no air circulation - e.g. malls, theatres - but the idea of an office with windows which open needing a/c seems really odd to me.
Let me introduce you to my work office. Busted aircon. Open windows. Enough fans to make conversation impractical. 100 bloody fucking degrees on a 95 degree day and utterly insufferable. I'm considering quitting if the fucking aircon isn't fixed shortly.Furthermore, let me introduce you to my home office. No aircon, open windows, as much air moving as is practical to move. 100 degrees AT MIDNIGHT. I happened to be home during the day yesterday - it climbed to 115.
Both of these locations are fairly rural and not subject to the urban heat island effect.
Combined with humidity that constantly hovers in the 80-90% range, this shit just sucks enormous cocks. We, as a species, are not well designed to endure heat above our internal body temperature. For reference, the summertime temperature profile in parts of the eastern United States is fairly similar to Baghdad - except with 8-9 times the humidity. I know a reservist marine who, as far as weather is concerned, prefers being deployed to Iraq to training in New Jersey.
